The Fire Wall Warrior
by Create-tion
Summary: On the run from Azula and Commander Zhao, Tia must hit the ground running and never look back. A former servant to the fire palace she must now find her way back to the people she protected that horrible night when Azula attacked them. She must save those she cares about...but she might just run into the prince on the way...along with an avatar, a water bender, and a "leader".
1. A Slave

Tia sat cross legged with her back against the cold biting metal of the ship she'd been taken aboard. There was no way to escape. There was no way to get her hands untied. They were wound tightly and securely behind her back. Her eyes traced the slats of sunlight filtering down from the grate above. If she could just break the chains on her wrists she'd be at least able to jump the ship. She sighed leaning her head back against the metal closing her eyes. Footsteps slowly ascended the haul downwards towards where she sat barred away as a prisoner. Commander Zhao looked Tia over carefully with a dark smirk on his face before crossing the expanse between them to meet her. He nudged his toe against her thigh when she didn't acknowledge his presence.

"Still think you're a tough little women eh?" he questioned. Tia refused to open her eyes nor look at the man.

"Do what you want. You will anyway." She remarked shifting her shoulders just a fraction. She waited for the outburst. Zhao was not a calm tempered man all of the time. She could remember from the handful of moments she'd witnessed his anger when she'd been a child at the palace.

"Oh no. See, I'm going to take you back to Azula and let her decide what to do with you." Tia's eyes snapped open quickly.

"If you take me back to Azula, she'll take the credit. She'll tell everyone that she caught me. You won't see any recognition." Zhao took a long moment to respond. He crossed his arms over his chest staring down at her.

"You're lucky to have even survived. I can't imagine those burns feel pleasant on your back." He whispered. Tia's back ached and throbbed in ways he wouldn't understand but she would not give him that satisfaction.

"She will not give you any credit. Keep me on your ship. Keep me hidden, then when she fails, you can use me to shift your position higher than hers." Tia's words came out quickly.

"You're a fast thinker." Zhao chuckled. "A ruthless woman really. I tell you what. I don't know what you think you'll get out of this…but I'll take the bait. I keep you safe, you're my prisoner, you stay alive, and I'll use you when the time comes. I guess really you get to live. Azula would just kill you at this point." Tia let out a dry breath biting her lip glancing at Zhao.

"I can work." She looked down at the floor. She knew that with a man like him, bent with pride, she'd have to make herself seem small. "I can work on this ship and earn a keep." Zhao raised an eyebrow.

"Are you proposing I unchain you?" she didn't move for a moment trying to let the possibility sink in for him.

"I can cook and wash. I'd even clean the deck." He laughed again but this time more heartily.

"Add the latrine buckets to that list and I might consider it." Tia held her breath.

"I'll do it." She nodded before looking up at him hopefully. "I can do all of it. I did more work than that at the palace." She whispered softly.

"Then it's a deal. You start in the morning." He turned barking at a man in armor by the door. "You there, grab an extra blanket for the prisoner." Tia blinked surprised.

"What…" he knelt down beside her and reached for her wrists behind her back. She made to scoot away from him but stopped when he smirked at her.

"Trust the serpent and eat the apple." He clicked a key into the lock and the wristlets fell off her arms. Tia slowly brought her arms around her front as the man came back with an old shoddy blanket. "I'm going to put trust in our deal little girl. Betray that trust and I will burn you." He nodded to her before standing back up and left. The guard was dismissed from the doorway and Tia was left alone. She snatched the blanket off the floor and wrapped it warmly around herself. Trust the serpent and eat the apple; take what he was giving her because it was the best she could get. He didn't know what was about to hit him. Tia smirked before closing her eyes gently. He thought he could burn her? Nothing could burn her as bad as she was already burnt.

The moment her feet hit the ships upper deck, Tia gulped down a large deep breath. A smile broke out on her face. Despite having a mop in one hand and soot covering her arms from fingers to elbow, she smiled. She brought a grimy hand up to her forehead and wiped at her brow creating a thick black coal line from where she'd scrubbed the engine room. Cleaning had always been something Tia could do. She'd cleaned and scrubbed the fire palace as a child so why not clean their stupid ship too? If it meant she could fool Zhao into trusting her so that she could escape, what did it matter? A temperate wind caught her face stinging with chilled air from the mountains and Tia shivered a moment.

"You had better get to work." A soldier snapped eyeing her. She grinned at him.

"Not a prisoner anymore. I scrub the decks." She slapped the mop down as if to emphasize the new job. "So, unless you want me to conveniently wax up the deck where your look out duty is tonight…you might want to be nice." His mouth opened and shut as he worked to create a response. She wiped the mop by his feet and past him letting the fumes steam from his ears.

Tia knew that tonight she would have to make her move. They would be docking at a small town near the earth kingdom and if she were smart she'd wait until they were sleeping. She would make the case that her work wasn't finished and that the moonlight would provide plenty of light for her to work by. She knew that Zhao would leave someone up to watch over her but she also knew that his pride would ensure him that she was too scared to renege on their deal. Problem was, she wasn't scared and anywhere was safer than near a fire nation ship. She knew that Azula was looking for her but she wasn't the primary concern. If she stayed silent and holed up out of the war Azula would have no need to kill her. Zhao would eventually be the one to kill her when the time came if only to prevent Azula the satisfaction. She needed to run from here and the sooner the better.

By the time the sun fell Tia was still silently mopping the deck on the backside of the ship. Zhao was making a round and idly strolled past her discussing their docking port in just a few minutes. They spoke of particular items they needed to buy and supplies they were running low on. She waited until there was a lull in the conversation. The soldier paused to begin a sentence and Tia accidently jabbed the mop into his foot. She sucked in a breath stumbling making it look like she'd slid on the ship deck as a wave had rolled against the hull gently.

"I'm so sorry!" She apologized profusely gripping the mop for support.

"Why you little!" The soldier began raising an arm. Zhao put his hand out instantly to block him.

"It was an accident. Let it be." Tia hunched up her shoulders taking a step back. Zhao needed to feel important. She knew he needed to feel as if he were in charge here.

"Sir, my work…it's not finished." She rushed on glancing over the deck. "If I could just work on it a while longer tonight it will be done for tomorrow." Her grip on the mop tightened as she counted the heartbeats that passed while waiting for an answer. Finally he spoke.

"Alright. Finish but rest after you are done. Tomorrow there will be more work to do." He nodded to the soldier she'd interrupted. "You're her watch. You sleep when she sleeps." And with the order he walked away. Tia let go of a small breath. Very soon she'd make her move. Very soon she'd be on the run again. She was merely waiting for Zhao to go to bed below deck when they docked. She'd be a free woman the moment their ship hit the ground. She'd done it once, she could do it again.


	2. Run Away

**So HEY! Thanks so MUCH for reading my story! I'm actually amazed that anyone is reading this! I would really love it if I could get some comments and some reviews from you guys! But, yeah, anyway…thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy this new chapter!**

Tia stood at the edge of the helm watching as the waves lapped at the ships stern. Her eyes trained on the foam stirring in the waves as they neared the shore. This was her one chance to run. If she messed this up, Zhao would either kill her himself or take her directly back to Azula. She'd come too far. She'd made it…she'd survived…there was no way in hell she was going back to Azula. There were people she had to protect. There were people that were waiting on Tia to return back to where they were hiding and take care of them. She thought momentarily of the small boy with a chip in his front tooth that she'd grabbed that night. She thought of the fear that had swirled in his eyes as the flames had come raging towards him. She thought of the way she'd felt, the anger bubbling up from years of being treated like they'd treated them…her hand gripped the railing. Her stare turned into a heated glare as the ship jarred reaching shore. She would run. She would run and she would survive because one day she owed Azula the fight she deserved. She wouldn't be taken so easily by a spoiled little brat. The chains released and the ship began to dock the port. Tia narrowed her gaze glancing back up at the lookout tower on the ship; the lights were not lit. Zhao had gone underdeck to sleep for the night trusting his crew to take care of the ship. That had been stupid. She took a deep breath. It was now or never.

"Is your work done?" the soldier asked her coming closer.

"Just about…gotta finish one thing." She whispered looking back over the edge of the ship. If she jumped here she'd barely make the shore line but the waves would still be pretty deep. She'd have to swim some. If she made a break for the lowered walkway it could be risky.

"What do you have to finish?" he sighed coming closer. Her heart sped up. She needed to make a decision now.

"Guess I'll have to tell you another time. I really have to go." She only let go of one breath before shifting her weight. She heaved herself up over the railing and threw herself down into the ocean.

"STOP HER!" The guard shouted. Flames rippled past her shoulders as she lost her grip on the railing and plummeted towards the ocean below. On the way down, she hit the side of the ship, from loss of balance when he'd attacked. It had scared her. She supposed, as she hit the surface of the water, that fire would always insight that fear now. Ever since Azula attacked…

The salty waters rippled gnawing at her back through the shoddy fabric on her back. It stung. Tia grit her teeth sucking in air trying to grin her teeth into themselves as the salt dug into the partially healed burn wounds that covered her back. She couldn't scream. The spotlight was lit above as the guards shouted and screamed. She saw the light in the water shinning and bouncing from place to place but it hadn't found her yet. She whimpered realizing her best bet was to suck in a breath and submerge her entire body into the water. It would burn her back so bad but they would find her if she didn't. The spotlight came dangerously close to her position and she panicked gulping down air before forcing herself down into the waves. Pain would just be part of survival. Instead of swimming directly towards the shore she forced herself sideways towards some rocks. She could nestle down in a cave she'd seen not far from there for the night while they thought she'd gone straight for shore. When they'd moved on in the morning she would make a break for the closest town. Until then she had to swim.

The cave had been freezing. Tia's body ached as her eyes opened. The first traces of dawn were crawling through the scraggly rocks spreading over her body. It was the first warmth she'd felt all night. She shivered stretching trying to catch more of her body in the runs rays. She'd have to move here soon. Tia edged towards the mouth of the cave and peered out. There was no fire nation ship. They'd left. Zhao would have moved on to the next city believing that she'd probably made a run for it on foot in the middle of the night. Idiot. She started to peel herself from the rocky cave cringing as she did. Her back was stinging still. She needed medicine. She needed to clean the burns. They hadn't been cleaned and bandaged since before Zhao had captured her. There wasn't time and she didn't have money. There were people waiting on her. Tia slid and stumbled down the rocks to a beach pathway that led to the sandy beach. The city was so far away and she wasn't sure that her back could handle the pain of going that far. Tia made a face sighing before setting her jaw. If she hurried she would make it before lunch time. Maybe, she'd be able to pick something from a trash bin, she wasn't sure. Anything beat not eating. She hadn't eaten in a day either. Her stomach growled. Tia set off towards the town.

The Earth Kingdom was most definitely not her home. Tia felt out of place in the palace servant garb that was torn, still soggy, and tattered with dirt from where she'd scrubbed the ship. She was sure her hair was a snarled mess of curls as well. People were stopping to look at her curiously as if she'd come from under a rock, which given that she'd come from a cave this morning, they weren't far off. As she passed a small tea shop a man tilted his head watching her. She didn't see him, but Iroh saw her. Iroh recognized that face. It was the face of a young girl who'd often brought her tea when she'd been a young child learning her way around the palace. He remembered how she'd smiled once giggling as she'd handed him the cup and that the mentor servant had smacked at her hand chiding her for looking at royal family. He remember how instantly she'd crumpled biting her lip and holding back tears looking at the floor. It was much the same look she wore now. The only difference was the set of her shoulders as she walked by. It was filled with anger instead of tears. Iroh paid for his tea, leaving a few pieces on the counter, and he got up from the table to leave.

Tia stood at the front of a small shop that sold clothes. She ran a hand down her face rolling her shoulders back trying to debate what to do. She did not want to steal. However, she needed clothes. The salty dried out shirt was clinging to her back so badly that when she'd tried to pull it away in places she'd nearly cried.

"It's not often you see someone you knew from the Fire nation nowadays." Iroh smiled walking up beside Tia. She stiffened backing away instantly, defensively. She knew he was here with Prince Zuko somewhere. Instantly she looked around trying to find the boy.

"He's not with me. I sent him on an errand." A modicum of relief filtered over her features.

"What do you want?" she asked eyeing him.

"To aide a friend. Besides," he nodded happily putting a hand on her shoulder, "You used to make some of my favorite blends of tea!" he guided her into the shop gently. Tia tried to break away but he held her firm.

"I didn't ask…wait, you remember that?" she asked baffled. He nodded smiling softly.

"I used to love the way you'd take your time to steep the leaves unlike so many of the others."

"The others…you mean the servants?" she asked raising an eyebrow. "Why don't you just call us that?" he made a face sighing.

"I don't prefer to think of others as below myself. We all come from the same pathways of life…you, myself…now, never mind all of that." Tia made to open her mouth but he kept going.

"You look like you went swimming in a storm. Why don't you find some clean clothes and then you can come with me." Tia blinked several times confused.

"Why?" she finally asked.

"Because you stink." He said simply laughing. "You smell like fish." Tia just stared at him.

"Well, thanks…" she said turning to look at some basic shirts.

"You are very welcome Tia." She stopped her hand on a shirt smiling. He remember her name…even if she couldn't trust him…he had remembered her name. She hadn't been just a servant. He'd known her name.


End file.
